Senator GREENWOOD (Victoria)
- The Opposition has an amendment to clause 30. Clause 30 amends section 58 of the Act which provides that an award shall continue in force for whatever period is specified in the award not exceeding 5 years. There is provision that at the expiration of the period which is specified, subject to certain conditions which are set out in this clause, the award continues in force until a new award is made. The purpose of the clause in the Bill is to amend the existing provision and to draw a distinction between awards and agreements which are certified and which may be described as consent awards. An award which determines an industrial dispute shall continue in force for a period of 5 years, or where there is an agreement it shall continue in force for a period of 3 years.

The Opposition supports this distinction which is made of a 5 -year period for awards and a 3-year period for memorandum agreements, but it seeks to amend the provision in the Bill so that agreements, like awards, shall continue in force after their expiration until they are replaced. This objective is achieved by omitting paragraph (b) of the clause. The effect therefore will be that, subject to the general provisions in section 59, the award will run for 5 years and an agreement will run for 3 years, and in each case at the expiration of that period the award and the agreement shall continue indefinitely until replaced. The significant impact of the amendment which is proposed is to ensure that agreements which are memorandum agreements will be treated in the same way as awards. Accordingly, I move: